Firefox on Android now lets users snap photos with their phone's camera without leaving the browser when the {{ HTMLElement("input") }} element is used with type="file" and accept="image/*".

CSS

The {{ cssxref("font-stretch") }} property is now supported.

The {{ cssxref("columns") }} property is now supported, with the {{ property_prefix("-moz") }} prefix. This is a shorthand for the following properties: {{ cssxref("column-width") }} and {{ cssxref("column-count") }}.

DOM

The {{ domxref("Node.contains()") }} method is now implemented; this lets you determine if a given node is a descendant of another node.

In the past, calling addEventListener() with a null listener would throw an exception. Now it returns without error and with no effect.

The new {{ domxref("navigator.doNotTrack") }} property lets your content easily determine whether or not the user has enabled their do-no-track preference; if this value is "yes", you should not track the user.

{{ domxref("Range") }} and {{ domxref("Selection") }} objects now behave according to their specifications when {{ domxref("Text.splitText()", "splitText()") }} and {{ domxref("Node.normalize", "normalize()") }} are called.

The value of {{ domxref("Node.ownerDocument") }} for doctype nodes is now the document on which createDocumentType() was called to create the node, instead of null.

window.navigator.taintEnabled has been removed; it has not been supported in many years.

MathML

The non-standard restyle value for the actiontype attribute on {{ MathMLElement("maction") }} elements has been removed.

Service changes

Interface changes

Removed interfaces

{{ interface("nsIGlobalHistory3") }} has been removed during streamlining of the Places and DocShell code.

Miscellaneous interface changes

The {{ interface("nsISound") }} interface has a new constant, EVENT_EDITOR_MAX_LEN. The allows for playing the system sound for when more characters than the maximum allowed are typed into a text field. Currently, this is only used on Windows.

The {{ interface("nsIScriptError2") }} interface has new timeStamp and innerWindowID properties; in addition, the initWithWindowID() method now takes an inner window ID instead of an outer window ID.

The {{ ifattribute("nsIBidiKeyboard", "haveBidiKeyboards") }} attribute has been added; this lets you determine if the system has at least one keyboard installed for each direction: left-to-right and right-to-left.

The new {{ ifattribute("nsIEditor", "isSelectionEditable") }} attribute lets you determine if the current selection anchor is editable. This helps to support cases where only parts of the document are editable, by letting you see if the current selection is in an editable section.

The {{ ifmethod("nsIBrowserHistory", "registerOpenPage") }} and {{ ifmethod("nsIBrowserHistory", "unregisterOpenPage") }} methods have been removed as part of a performance overhaul in the Places system. You can use the corresponding methods in {{ interface("mozIPlacesAutoComplete") }} instead.

The {{ ifmethod("nsIDOMWindowUtils", "wrapDOMFile") }} method has been added; this returns a DOM {{ domxref("File") }} object for a given {{ interface("nsIFile") }}.

The {{ ifmethod("nsIChromeFrameMessageManager", "removeDelayedFrameScript") }} method was added to support removing delayed load scripts. Bootstrapped add-ons should use this, at shutdown, to remove any scripts it loaded using {{ ifmethod("nsIChromeFrameMessageManager", "loadFrameScript") }} with the delayed load flag set. This is exposed to add-ons as browser.messageManager.removeDelayedFrameScript().

IDL parser

The IDL parser no longer includes support for the never fully-implemented notion of unique pointers.

Build system changes

The --enable-application=standalone option for building standalone XPConnect has been removed; it hasn't worked since 2007 anyway.

Other changes

The spell checker no longer has an arbitrary 130-character word-length limit on the length of words it will attempt to spell check. This limit was previously in place to prevent crashes that were occurring in the spell checker, but the underlying bugs have since been fixed.

Revision Source

<p>{{ draft() }}</p>
<p>{{ ReleaseChannelInfo("9") }}</p>
<h2>Changes for web developers</h2>
<h3>HTML</h3>
<ul> <li>The <code>value</code> attribute of {{ HTMLElement("li") }} now can be negative as specified in HTML5. Previously negative values were converted to 0.</li> <li>{{ HTMLElement("input") }} and {{ HTMLElement("textarea") }} elements <a href="/en/HTML/Controlling_spell_checking_in_HTML_forms#Controlling_the_spellchecker_language" title="en/HTML/Controlling_spell_checking_in_HTML_forms#Controlling_the_spellchecker_language">now respect the value of the <code>lang</code> attribute</a> when invoking the spell checker.</li> <li>Firefox on Android now lets users snap photos with their phone's camera without leaving the browser when the {{ HTMLElement("input") }} element is used with <code>type="file"</code> and <code>accept="image/*"</code>.</li>
</ul><h3>CSS</h3>
<ul> <li>The {{ cssxref("font-stretch") }} property is now supported.</li> <li>The {{ cssxref("columns") }} property is now supported, with the {{ property_prefix("-moz") }} prefix. This is a shorthand for the following properties: {{ cssxref("column-width") }} and {{ cssxref("column-count") }}.</li>
</ul>
<h3>DOM</h3>
<ul> <li>The {{ domxref("Node.contains()") }} method is now implemented; this lets you determine if a given node is a descendant of another node.</li> <li>In the past, calling <a href="/en/DOM/element.addEventListener" title="element.addEventListener"><code>addEventListener()</code></a> with a <code>null</code> listener would throw an exception. Now it returns without error and with no effect.</li> <li>The new {{ domxref("navigator.doNotTrack") }} property lets your content easily determine whether or not the user has enabled their do-no-track preference; if this value is "yes", you should not track the user.</li> <li>{{ domxref("Range") }} and {{ domxref("Selection") }} objects now behave according to their specifications when {{ domxref("Text.splitText()", "splitText()") }} and {{ domxref("Node.normalize", "normalize()") }} are called.</li> <li>The value of {{ domxref("Node.ownerDocument") }} for doctype nodes is now the document on which <a href="/En/DOM/DOMImplementation.createDocumentType" title="DOMImplementation.createDocumentType"><code>createDocumentType()</code></a> was called to create the node, instead of <code>null</code>.</li> <li><code>window.navigator.taintEnabled</code> has been removed; it has not been supported in many years.</li>
</ul>
<h3>MathML</h3>
<ul> <li>The non-standard <code>restyle</code> value for the <code>actiontype</code> attribute on {{ MathMLElement("maction") }} elements has been removed.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Networking</h3>
<ul> <li>WebSocket connections now permit non-characters in otherwise valid UTF-8 data frames to be received, instead of failing.</li> <li>The HTTP <code>Accept</code> header for XSLT requests has been changed to simply "*/*" for simplicity. Since fetching XSLT has always fallen back to "*/*" anyway, it made sense to simplify the initial request.</li>
</ul><h2>Changes for Mozilla and add-on developers</h2>
<p>See <a href="/en/Firefox/Updating_add-ons_for_Firefox_9" title="en/Firefox/Updating add-ons for Firefox 9">Updating add-ons for Firefox 9</a> for an overview of the changes you may need to make to get your add-ons working in Firefox 9.</p>
<h3>Service changes</h3>
<ul> <li>The content preference service now <a href="/en/Using_content_preferences#private-browsing" title="en/Using_content_preferences#private-browsing">handles private mode browsing</a> (see {{ bug("679784") }}).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Interface changes</h3>
<h4>Removed interfaces</h4>
<ul> <li>{{ interface("nsIGlobalHistory3") }} has been removed during streamlining of the Places and DocShell code.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Miscellaneous interface changes</h4>
<ul> <li>The {{ interface("nsISound") }} interface has a new constant, <code>EVENT_EDITOR_MAX_LEN</code>. The allows for playing the system sound for when more characters than the maximum allowed are typed into a text field. Currently, this is only used on Windows.</li> <li>The {{ interface("nsIScriptError2") }} interface has new <code>timeStamp</code> and <code>innerWindowID</code> properties; in addition, the <code>initWithWindowID()</code> method now takes an inner window ID instead of an outer window ID.</li> <li>The {{ ifattribute("nsIBidiKeyboard", "haveBidiKeyboards") }} attribute has been added; this lets you determine if the system has at least one keyboard installed for each direction: left-to-right and right-to-left.</li> <li>The new {{ ifattribute("nsIEditor", "isSelectionEditable") }} attribute lets you determine if the current selection anchor is editable. This helps to support cases where only parts of the document are editable, by letting you see if the current selection is in an editable section.</li> <li>The {{ ifmethod("nsIBrowserHistory", "registerOpenPage") }} and {{ ifmethod("nsIBrowserHistory", "unregisterOpenPage") }} methods have been removed as part of a performance overhaul in the Places system. You can use the corresponding methods in {{ interface("mozIPlacesAutoComplete") }} instead.</li> <li>The {{ ifmethod("nsIDOMWindowUtils", "wrapDOMFile") }} method has been added; this returns a DOM {{ domxref("File") }} object for a given {{ interface("nsIFile") }}.</li> <li>The {{ ifmethod("nsIChromeFrameMessageManager", "removeDelayedFrameScript") }} method was added to support removing delayed load scripts. Bootstrapped add-ons should use this, at shutdown, to remove any scripts it loaded using {{ ifmethod("nsIChromeFrameMessageManager", "loadFrameScript") }} with the delayed load flag set. This is exposed to add-ons as <code>browser.messageManager.removeDelayedFrameScript()</code>.</li>
</ul><h3>IDL parser</h3>
<p>The IDL parser no longer includes support for the never fully-implemented notion of unique pointers.</p>
<h3>Build system changes</h3>
<p>The <code>--enable-application=standalone</code> option for building standalone XPConnect has been removed; it hasn't worked since 2007 anyway.</p>
<h3>Other changes</h3>
<ul> <li>The spell checker no longer has an arbitrary 130-character word-length limit on the length of words it will attempt to spell check. This limit was previously in place to prevent crashes that were occurring in the spell checker, but the underlying bugs have since been fixed.</li>
</ul>
<h2>See also</h2>
<ul> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_8_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 8 for developers">Firefox 8 for developers</a></li> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_7_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 7 for developers">Firefox 7 for developers</a></li> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_6_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 6 for developers">Firefox 6 for developers</a></li> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_5_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 5 for developers">Firefox 5 for developers </a></li> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_4_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 4 for developers">Firefox 4 for developers </a></li> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_3.6_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 3.6 for developers">Firefox 3.6 for developers </a></li> <li><a href="/En/Firefox_3.5_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 3.5 for developers">Firefox 3.5 for developers</a></li> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_3_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 3 for developers">Firefox 3 for developers</a></li> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_2_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 2 for developers">Firefox 2 for developers</a></li> <li><a href="/en/Firefox_1.5_for_developers" title="en/Firefox 1.5 for developers">Firefox 1.5 for developers</a></li>
</ul>
<p>{{ languages( { "ja": "ja/Firefox_9_for_developers" } ) }}</p>